Cultures of Melancholia in Late Capitalism—A Reflection: Response to Discussion by Jeanne Wolff Bernstein

Our reply to Jeanne Wolff Bernstein claims that she is an ideal reader for the type of analysis we offered: because she is familiar with the European literary tradition, because she so obviously harbors a sense of the interface of literature and psychoanalysis, and—not least—because she herself has so meticulously studied the nuanced details of our diagnosis. We concur, furthermore, with the melancholia diagnosis she attributes to us and understand why our analysis led her—almost by association—to remember the models of earlier theorists of melancholy and depression. However, we caution that these three are merely a few among many models and that they should not, in any case, be considered definitive (as if models could ever be ultimate arbiters in an enterprise such as the posthumous analysis of a historical figure).

Finally, in our reply we petition for a more historical approach than the one found in Bernstein's response or in the writings of the three thinkers whose approach has influenced her thinking.